Actor Digangana Suryavanshi is gearing up for her OTT debut with a project titled Showstopper. However, she had no idea while signing for it that she would be sharing the screen space with legend Zeenat Aman, who is also making her OTT debut with the same project.
Sharing how it all happened, Suryavanshi says, “I was the first one to hear the narration and come on board. The director of our show (Manish Harishankar) narrated the script to me as soon as he wrote it. That’s why, I had no idea who all will be a part of the project. In fact, we had already shot for a couple of days when Manish ji mentioned that he is having Zeenat ma’am on board and I could not believe it. There was childlike excitement in me on hearing that and for a brief second, I totally forgot that I am an actor. I was looking forward to working with her.”
Asked if she felt intimidated while working alongside a veteran in the very first OTT project, Suryavanshi says, “I do not experience a lot of nervousness in life. When I am trying something new, I rather feel that childlike excitement I talked about. I am more happy than nervous.”
Besides Aman, the show also has other veteran actors including Zarina Wahab and Rakesh Bedi. Suryavanshi agrees that “there is a lot to learn from them as artistes”, but there is something else that left a lasting impression on her mind. “We all have seen that she (Aman) is a beautiful actress. We all have seen her work. I am a huge fan of all the roles that she has done so far. But after working with them, my biggest take away was the simplicity and grace she exhibits despite being a yesteryear superstar. I find it very rare nowadays and that’s something very attractive for me,” she tells us.
Suryavanshi is a known name on Indian TV as well as Tamil and Telugu industry. Having being a part of successful TV show Ek Veer Ki Ardaas: Veera and films Hippi and Valayam, and the actor wanted to be sure of the kind of project she takes up for her OTT debut. “It’s like charting a whole new territory! There were a lot of web shows that I had said no to and the basic reason behind was they were very explicit,” she notes.
Suryavanshi points out having done romantic as well as intimate scenes in the past project, but believes there needs to be a line drawn when it comes to such portrayals. “I have my comfort statement when it comes to that. So whether it’s film or OTT, crossing that line is not something I am interested in. In OTT, there are a lot of experiments happening. But sometimes what is experimentation for others may not make sense to me, and I may be completely wrong about it. But if I am being part of a project, it has to make sense to me. I am open to playing something dark…different…but it should not come from a play where it looks like it has been forced into it,” she signs off.